New Year, Old Friends

Within just a few days I will have been writing on this blog for 4 whole years.  In that time I've been elated, frustrated, driven, lazy, and everything in between.  I have changed course, begun new careers, quit and started anew, more than once, but one thing has remained constant and that is the friendships I have forged through this little piece of cyberspace.

Friendships that I couldn't have even imagined 4 years ago, ones which have nourished and bolstered me along the way.  And it is you the readers who have graciously chosen to take the ride along with me through the ebb and flow that life offers...and for that I thank you!

One of the first people I met along my journey was Chania of Razmataz.  It was her laid back take on the world that first drew me in, quickly followed by her great sense of style.  So when Christmastime rolled around and it was time to gift myself with some new jewelry, it was a no brainer to go looking at her shop for some of the wonderful Snö line she carries.

As if the jewelry itself isn't beautiful enough, the way Chania packages it makes it that much more special.  Black boxes embellished with a crisp silver logo and pretty pink ribbons say "there's something special inside, hurry and open me" and there is even a black satin bag tucked in each box to help protect your jewelry!

If you've read my blog for any length of time, then you know I'm a sucker for anything turquoise, so this bracelet was a must have.

I can see this paired with white jeans, sandals, and a linen tunic this summer, but I won't wait until then to wear it, that's for sure.

(photo courtesy of Sno of Sweden)

With the cloudy weather we've been having it was hard for me to get a good shot of the beautiful earrings I also got from Chania so I've borrowed this image of them from the Snö website.  I love these earrings which come in several different pearl color choices, I have worn them numerous times already because they go with practically everything!

But my favorite piece is this gorgeous silver chain link and leather bracelet, I wear it nearly every time I leave the house.  It looks beautiful with black, grey, brown, camel, you name it!  It has that timeless equestrian styling which always seems to appeal to me.  I get compliments on it each time I wear it, from 20 year olds to friends my age.

The thing I love most about everything I purchased from the Sno line is how well made they are.  Each piece is hefty, solidly constructed, and built to last for years.  I wear my jewelry a lot, so having pieces that will compliment my wardrobe for years to come is a must.

And just so you know, neither Chania nor Sno has compensated me for telling you this, I just love to pass along great finds!  If you are interested in owning some of these Snö of Sweden pieces, or to view many more, simply click HERE to see more of their wonderful pieces.

Now, to mention another longtime blogging buddy.   Linda of Itsy Bits and Pieces is one of those people you hope to make friends with when you start blogging.  She's kind, generous, always supportive, and she has a great eye for vintage finds...she's the whole package folks!

Right before the holidays, a package arrived on my doorstep, and I knew right away it must be from Linda.  She knows my love for all things french and gifted me with some wonderful old pieces that I can't wait to get framed!

The two scenes of Paris will take pride of place alongside my china cabinet in the dining room, and the map of northern France will likely end up in my living room, I haven't decided yet since the colors also would look beautiful in my bedroom.

Along with the two Parisian scenes and french map, Linda also gifted me with this 8 of hearts card.  When I asked her if she knew my birthday was on the 8th, she said no, that it was just a serendipitous pick...lucky me!  I have a number of Linda's vintage cards, from bingo to flash cards, that I display in my antique flower frogs throughout the year, so this one will be perfect for Valentine's day, which is right around the corner...oh my!

If you want to find your own vintage goodies, be sure to visit Linda's blog HERE, and scroll down to click on her Etsy stores on her sidebar...you won't be disappointed!  Thank you Linda for your generosity and amazing friendship!!!

It's hard to believe that another year has flown by and that we are already one week into the new year...where does the time go people?!

I'm not one to make resolutions or to choose words that will represent the coming year...mostly because I'm too indecisive and scatterbrained.  But I do feel like 2014 will be a good year here at Low Tide High Style, made even better by the friendships I have forged over the past 4 years...and I look forward to hearing from all of you, new and old, in the coming year.

I read this quote the other day and I thought it was perfect as we look forward to what 2014 has to offer. 

Wishing you all the best in 2014!!! 

Upon Reflection

On top of everything else we've had break over the last few weeks, yesterday, our AC decided to give up the ghost!  It's at times like these that you might begin to reflect on money and whether or not you should have bought that new sofa, car, taken that vacation, or whatever else you've spent money on over the last year.

Sometimes you think, "geez, if only I hadn't done this or that, things would be easier now that everything is falling apart."  And you might even begin to second guess those earlier decisions and wish you hadn't spent the money.  But I am not one of those people.  Yes, I will be more frugal because of the hemorrhaging of money from all we've had going on lately, and no I would never suggest that someone should spend frivolously and put themselves into a a dire financial situation, but you can't always live life waiting for the other shoe to drop either.  

Tonight, as I was looking at some of my old images, I stumbled upon the picture above.  I snapped this pic in the Marais last December, I loved the reflection of the row of buildings across the street in the glass storefront in front of me.  And even though we will be pinching pennies for awhile...upon reflection, I'm so happy that I didn't save every dime for a rainy day causing me to miss strolling the streets of Paris.  I enjoyed every minute I was there, and I was blissfully unaware that appliances and cars often conspire against us months later for abandoning them for 10 days!

Love

xoxo Kat

Travel

"To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted." -- Bill Bryson

Pont Neuf

These images are of the oldest standing bridge in Paris, also known as Pont Neuf.   Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it...

"As early as 1550, Henry II was asked to build a bridge here because the existing Pont Notre-Dame was overloaded, but the expense was too much at the time.^[1]

In 1577,^[1] the decision to build the bridge was made by King Henry III who laid its first stone in 1578, during which year the foundations of four piers and one abutment were completed.^[1] A major design change was made in 1579 requiring the widening of the bridge to allow houses to be built (though they never were) made the piers on the long arm longer. These piers were built over the next nine years.^[1] After a long delay beginning in 1588, due in part to the Wars of Religion, construction was resumed in 1599.^[1] The bridge was completed under the reign of Henry IV, who inaugurated it in 1607.

Like most bridges of its time, The Pont Neuf is constructed as a series of many short arch bridges, following Roman precedents. It was the first stone bridge in Paris not to support houses in addition to a thoroughfare, and was also fitted with pavements protecting pedestrians from mud and horses; pedestrians could also step aside into its bastions to let a bulky carriage pass. The decision not to include houses on the bridge can be traced back directly to Henry IV, who decided against their inclusion on the grounds that houses would impede a clear view of the Louvre, which he extended substantially during his reign.^[3]

The bridge had heavy traffic from the beginning;^[1] it was for a long time the widest bridge in Paris. The bridge has undergone much repair and renovation work, including rebuilding of seven spans in the long arm and lowering of the roadway by changing the arches from an almost semi-circular to elliptical form (1848–1855), lowering of sidewalks and faces of the piers, spandrels, cornices and replacing crumbled corbels as closely to the originals as possible.^[1] In 1885, one of the piers of the short arm was undermined, removing the two adjacent arches, requiring them to be rebuilt and all the foundations strengthened.^[1]

A major restoration of the Pont Neuf was begun in 1994 and was completed in 2007, the year of its 400th anniversary."

And here it is illuminated at night with the Eiffel Tower peeking out below one of its many arches.  Can you imagine how many people have crossed this bridge over that span of time, and how many proposals, fights, hugs, and kisses have occurred on it?!  

It's mind boggling really when you think about it, and I'm just happy to have walked on it, floated underneath it, and been able to capture it through my lens!

Blogger and Other Things that Aren't Working for Me

So if you've been following my blog for any length of time than you already know that email and I are often at odds with one another.  It's a fact I've come to accept, but I've never been happy about it.  Aside from my email woes, I've never had too many problems with other electronic aspects of my life, except for an occasional glitch here or there...and the fact that I can never spell occasional correctly the first time!

Anyway, last night, after having dinner with our kids I was sitting on the couch watching a show when my phone alerted me to some voice-mails.  No biggie, I get voice-mail messages all the time, but when I listened to the 3 on my phone they were all wishing me a Happy Birthday.  Sounds good right...until you factor in the fact that my birthday was almost 5 weeks ago, and the messages were left for me in early December but were just now showing up!  Ugh!

Then today, I was looking at my blog and debating on putting up another bird pic post, when I noticed I had 9 comments on my last post.  I thought it must be a typo since I had only received a few email alerts that I had comments.  Lo and behold I've been missing comments left and right it seems because I'm not being notified by Blogger that they are coming in.  And better still...gmail in its infinite wisdom has decided to throw a bunch of emails into my junk folder for no apparent reason.  Thank goodness I decided to see what else I'd been missing, there were tons of them in there that are NOT junk!

And, I've been pinning a bunch of images I took in France over on pinterest, but I'm not sure that people can see them because I normally get email alerts when people repin stuff.  So maybe Pinterest isn't working for me either?!

Who knows, but aside from the woodpecker above coming to the feeder more regularly, things seem to not be working out around here.  I think the lion above can relate...he looks a little cranky too!

If you want to see more of my France pictures, I'm adding more to Pinterest each day, in my board entitled Paris Perfection.  Feel free to click HERE to repin them or to follow along.

More Paris, More Coughing, More Naps

I know you are growing weary of seeing pictures of Paris, but I'm still only part way through processing my copious amounts of images, and I just can't get enough of seeing the sites again.

Each time I work on one, I'm immediately transported back there, and during the holidays I found myself gushing about the French and everything pertaining to Paris or France in general.  I'm sure it was a little like someone with their first grandchild breaking out the brag book every time someone new...or old, stops by!

So I'm afraid you will either have to turn away, or bear with me as I work through my francophone'itis.  And the other reason I'm still showing pictures of Paris is the fact that I really haven't picked up my camera much since I've been back.

Along with francophone'itis, I'm also apparently sporting bronchitis, which I found out by visiting the doctor this morning.  So I haven't been doing much of anything except cough a lot since our company left and the holidays have come to a close!

Not doing much includes not returning emails, cleaning, and a whole host of other things I "should" be doing but just don't feel like doing.  The doctor assured me that a round of antibiotics and some days of real rest, where I'm not worrying about everything I'm not doing, is what I need to be back in fighting form again.

So for once I'm listening and I'm actually heading to take a nap as soon as I post this.  What a good girl I am...sometimes! ;-)

Though out of sequence, all of the pics in this post were taken on our last full day in Paris.  The weather was less than ideal, cold, windy, and at times very rainy, but we decided to do something we hardly ever do...play tourist, and we opted for a Seine River cruise.

We were the first in line, only because we didn't feel like packing ourselves onto a very crowded boat we could have taken, and just hung out on the dock and waited for the next boat.  It was a wise choice in that we were not packed like sardines, but the down side was that about 5 minutes into our trip it began to rain...not spitting rain, but lots of the wet stuff.

Rain in and of itself isn't a bad thing, but expensive cameras and rain are not friends, so we moved from our prime upper deck seats to the glassed in bottom deck...also not a friend of cameras since glass distorts your images and makes it hard to focus.  So in the end we braved the cold and the rain and hung out by ourselves under the metal structure of the upper deck so that I could get a few shots.

I have to say that I'm glad we decided to take the cruise because the highlight for me was being able to photograph Paris and its many gorgeous bridges from a totally different perspective.  So if you are ever in Paris, be sure to take a cruise down the Seine...just check the weather forecast first! 

I hope everyone's new year is off to a good start!

Looking Back, Looking Forward, and Looking Up

Well we've almost made it through another year.  One filled with joy, sadness, and unexpected gifts.

In January of last year I never could have imagined that I would launch an art website, partner with a dear friend to create artwork, and another great friend to showcase her artwork.

I also didn't realize that my dream to be back in France would come true so soon, and that I would spend time with the man I love in the city of love!

These are all blessings that I'm so very grateful for, and I sometimes pinch myself that good fortune has smiled so graciously upon me and my family in 2012.

For 2013, I have no set plans, no resolutions, but plenty of dreams.  I dream that I will be able to travel again to shores unknown and visit more beautiful places that make me look upward and expand my horizons.

I dream that my family and friends will continue to be blessed with good health, happiness, and the joys that living a full life can bring.  And I wish these things for all of you too!

And speaking of dreams, I have been so sick...still...that I almost forgot to tell you that some of our artwork was featured in the Fab Finds section of the current issue of Romantic Country Magazine!  This special piece is one that we created specifically for the magazine and I hope you all enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it for Fifi!  Thank you Fifi for this wonderful opportunity!!!  There was a bit of a glitch and the website listed beneath the pic was incorrect, but you can find this artwork and lots of others on our website at Low Tide High Style.

Vintage Christmas

After being away much of December and returning home with a bug of some sort, Christmas decor at my house is at an all time low.  Surprisingly, this is what I was hoping to do even if I had been home and hadn't gotten sick, so I'm loving it all the same...but it is a bit of a change for me.

While in Paris, I visited a few flea markets and hoped I would find some vintage items along with some ephemera.  I found plenty of ephemera, and the day before we left we visited one more flea market and scored some wonderful finds, like the vintage bottle above, which holds my rustic version of a Christmas tree.

I decided to place some of my wonderful finds in the windowsill above my sink this year for a simple and vintage inspired theme.

I also found 2 crocks...this one which would have originally held flour is perfect for holding holiday greens.

And a visit to Bon Marche, a lovely old department store in Paris, yielded some gorgeous star trimmed ribbon.  It wasn't cheap, well nothing really is at Bon Marche, but Mr. Tide convinced me that buying it was cheaper than a plane ticket back to France once I got home and couldn't get that ribbon out of my head...the man knows me well! :)

Of course he was right, and I love how it added the perfect touch of shimmer to my simple window vignette.

The other crock I found in my travels was from the same dealer as the flour crock shown above, and I wasn't sure I should get both, but was convinced that you can never have too many vintage crocks.  The dealer was very sweet and wrapped them beautifully knowing they would be traveling a long way before finding their new home.

After paying him, he bid us farewell and said, "now it is your turn to keep them safe."  Mr. Tide said it was as though he was parting with a couple of his children...and maybe for him he was!  They appear to be old, but who really knows how old they are, and really who cares...they make me happy and that's what matters!

Buying these things (and I have more to show you soon) was like having an early Christmas.  And as if that wasn't enough, yesterday I received another beautiful and skillfully wrapped present from England.  One of the guys I play an online game with lives in Northern England and he knows my affinity for vintage wares, so he gifted me with the most lovely blue and white creamer he found at a boot sale!  What a treat to receive such a lovely and thoughtful gift from across the pond...thank you PP!

And because I seem to be in a vintage mood, I thought I would share a few images of Paris I processed with old vintage postcards in mind.  I may have to think about creating a set of note cards or postcards using these, and other images that lend themselves to that vintage look...hmm.

I am off to finish up cleaning and shopping...how is it that those 2 things are never ever truly done?!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each and every one of you! xoxo

So Many Pictures, So Little Time

I took so many pictures while in France that I'm a little confused as to what to show you first.  There are pictures of the Opera, pictures of Saint Chapelle, pictures of bridges, buildings, and places we had tea.  Add to that the fact that there is still no Christmas tree at my house, I am sick as a dog from whatever I caught on the metro or the plane ride home, that my in-laws will be arriving in a few days and I haven't finished shopping... to say that this old brain of mine isn't really able to make too many thoughtful decisions at the moment would be an understatement. 

So after processing a few images, and darting from day to day, I finally decided to just start at the beginning.  The real beginning was on the 6th of December when we flew out, arriving on the 7th to very cold temps and snow...so there aren't very many pics from that day.  The real picture taking began on the 8th, when we ventured out to visit Notre Dame and wander the streets surrounding that part of Paris.  Most of the pictures in this post are from the inside of Notre Dame, and the light was VERY low as it was evening time, not the best for hand held pictures, but tripods are strictly forbidden.

A lovely statue of Joan of Arc...

One of the many gilded reliefs found in the cathedral...

Beautiful light and graceful arches dominate this ages old structure.  Just a few days after these were shot they celebrated the 850 year anniversary of Notre Dame!

Ornate ironwork, like these lovely gates, can also be found here.

So much to see, and well worth the visit...

Even the ceilings are beautiful!

As are the chandeliers.  It must have been a sight to behold when these were all lit by candlelight!

And when the organ plays...oh my, it will bring you to tears...truly!

Now, I better go start cleaning and get my tree up since I don't think posting the pic above from the opera will suffice...pity really as it was truly perfect!

Bonjour from France

Just a quick note to say bonjour from Paris!  I have been walking my legs off, and taking pictures of course.  There is never a lack of photogenic subjects in this beautiful city...just look at the exquisite carvings on the Louvre!

And you can't come to Paris without doing a little shopping right?!  I popped by Merci today and picked up a little something.

It has been very cold and sometimes rainy while we've been here, but I had to brave the freezing temps tonight to get some pictures of the Eiffel Tower.  And I have to say that it was well worth not being able to feel my feet for about a 1/2 hour after we got back home.

We are having a wonderful time and I am seeing parts of the city I have never seen before, so it's like a new adventure each day.  I can't wait to get back home and process some of the images I have taken since I have taken quite a few HDR shots of the city.

The French have been so warm and welcoming, and last night I had a lovely conversation with an elderly French woman who was out walking her dog.  Between her broken English and my broken French we managed to tell each other all about our families, our pets, and our shared love of Paris.  She then told me that this was the city of her birth, and you could tell how much that meant to her...it was very touching to see her still in love with this beautiful place.

I have much more to tell (and show) you all when we get back...including the chance meeting we had tonight with another artist and her husband who were seated next to us at dinner.  I feel so very lucky to have had this opportunity to travel once again.  The only thing that could make this better would be if our kids were here with us...next time I hope!

Until next time...

Dreaming in Black and White

I've been dreaming, or maybe scheming of a way to get back over to France.  The last time I was there, we didn't have enough time to visit Paris, and my heart longs to stroll her city streets.  My heart also longs to revisit places in the south that were once home to our daughter.

It would be a working trip, requiring many long hours of photographing beautiful sites and taste testing food of course...but I think I am up to the challenge of all of this strenuous work! ;-)

Before I go, I will need to consider the physical harm I might have to endure, you know, neck strain from looking up...

And those thigh crushing, ahem...toning hills that parts of France are so famous for.  It may not look steep in this photo, but trust me it was!  And if you ever want to feel inadequate, stand on the steepest street you can find in France and watch as women in 4 inch heels glide up these uneven cobblestone surfaces, closely followed by people in their 90s lugging their daily groceries!

I have to admit that I was totally bummed when we didn't win the mega millions.  First of all I was just sure we would win, I mean we never buy tickets, and the odds were SO in our favor, but alas it wasn't to be.  Had I won though, you can bet your bottom dollar that the first thing after talking to an attorney, a few charities, and a financial planner would have been contacting a realtor in France to purchase my weekend home.

I would have booked my ticket to France so quickly that it would have made anyone's head spin.

It's funny how certain places grab hold of your heart and never let go.  And it's not as if I have visited France many times, but the time I have spent there has given me wonderful memories...which I hope to add to in the years to come.

I want to thank all of the new visitors that have stopped by from Diana's lovely blog today!  It's so nice to have you here, and I truly appreciate you stopping by!  Thank you for the sweet shout out Diana!

If I truly ever did win the lottery, I would hope I would do something exactly like this!